CHANEL SS23
Virginie Viard feels the need to discover a person who can embody Gabrielle Chanel’s values today, who can perceive her style and her refinement making them current and contemporary. In knowing Kristen Stewart she notices a strong connection between the actress and the fashion icon: in fact, the designer affirms she has always been particularly interested in her face, her movements, and her attitude, reminding her of Coco’s perspectives to the point of making her the inspiration and face of the Spring-Summer 2023 collection. With grace and elegance, beauty and sophistication, Kristen also stars in the short film that sees the actress leaving Le Champo, an iconic art-house cinema in the Latin Quarter of Paris after a performance of L’année Dernière à Marienbad. The latter, a 1961 Alain Resnais film made in black and white, is an integral part of Viard’s path to the new season. The colors of the film are echoed in the collection, which in fact features a clear majority of black and white garments, joined by pastel shades such as pink and pale yellow. A long black chiffon cape with feathers closed by a camellia is one of the emblematic garments, a true homage to Delphine Seyrig in Resnais’ film. The transparencies created by the light fabrics, also used for a long skirt paired with an exaggerated bow bodysuit, give the garment an effect of elegant sensuality and gentle movement. The allusions to L’année Dernière à Marienbad are several, including the gold dress stopped at the waist by a jeweled belt that recreates the one used in one of the scenes, while the pattern of a shirt is created by a composition of different frames taken directly from the film. Tweed is as always the master of the entire collection, with large patch pockets, frayed or hand-finished; we find blazers, entire suits and jumpsuit with various weft threads inside or embellished with sequins. The Coco Chanel figure also remains indelible in the collective imagination because of her extraordinary choice of jewelry. In contrast to her androgynous style, Fine Jewelry pieces adorn entire outfits, as in the SS23 collection proposed by Viard, where her codes and symbols are emphasized in endless combinations: long pearl necklaces worn one on top of the other, flashy earrings illuminate total black looks, while rings and bracelets with CC motifs alternate with long gloves. The designer also brought attention back to important necklaces, which cover the entire décolletage left in view by low-cut dresses. The world presented by Virginie Viard embodies an almost fantastic and surreal vision and is presented as a balanced blend of her different sources of inspiration. The black and white film transfers not only in the color palette but also through frames printed on the clothes, paying homage to the characters. Gabrielle Chanel, on the other hand, is perfectly found in Kristen Stewart, who transfers her strong and contemporary character by wearing the collection, finding herself in perfect harmony with the garments that manage to express her way of being. In particular, the actress embodies a Coco’s statement in which she affirms that the solution lies in clothing: when you wear a dress in which you feel comfortable, you can completely forget the desire to look beautiful at all costs, overcoming any insecurity. Stewart explains how long it was the road to self-knowledge and how her style has contributed in the quest that also led her to learn how the idea of masculinity and femininity coexist in each of us : the constant duality combines another time the two sides. “It’s exhilarating and it’s highly pressurized because our identities are these lifelong evolving art projects,” Kristen says. “It’s no longer important to know who you are or even what you want. I think it’s important to burn down your very best yesterday, every day, so you can start again.”
